Abstract

Le titre aborigene est un concept juridique decoulant de la common law britannique. Il confere aux Autochtones, jouissant d'une presence ancestrale sur un territoire donne, certains droits d'usage analogues a un usufruit. Sur le territoire du Quebec de 1763, l'existence de ce titre a longtemps ete niee par les tribunaux en vertu de la doctrine qui alleguait que le Regime francais, puis le Regime britannique, l'auraient eteint en ne reconnaissant aucun droit ancestral aux Amerindiens frequentant cette region. Le present memoire demontre que, contrairement a l'ideologie dominante, le titre aborigene aurait pu survivre au Regime francais. Cela est du au systeme de propriete du sol de type feodal, pratique a l'epoque par les autorites coloniales, qui suppose une superposition des pouvoirs sur un meme sol. Les Autochtones frequentant, depuis des temps immemoriaux, le territoire du Quebec de 1763 auraient ete faits vassaux du roi de France et auraient conserve le droit d'utiliser le territoire a des fins de subsistance de meme qu'a des fins de chasse associees au commerce des fourrures. Le titre aborigene n'aurait pu etre eteint dans cette region. Cependant, aucun texte nous permet de croire que le Regime britannique a reconnu un tel titre.

Alternate abstract:

Aboriginal title is a legal concept arising from British common law. It confers on Aboriginal people, enjoying an ancestral presence on a given territory, certain usage rights similar to usufruct. In the territory of Quebec in 1763, the existence of this title was long denied by the courts under the doctrine which alleged that the French Regime, then the British Regime, would have extinguished it by not recognizing any ancestral rights to Amerindians. frequenting this region. This dissertation demonstrates that, contrary to the dominant ideology, the aboriginal title could have survived the French Regime. This is due to the feudal-type system of land ownership, practiced at the time by the colonial authorities, which supposes a superposition of powers on the same land. The Aboriginal people living, since time immemorial, in the territory of Quebec in 1763 would have been made vassals of the King of France and would have retained the right to use the territory for subsistence purposes as well as for hunting purposes associated with commerce. furs. Aboriginal title could not have been extinguished in this region. However, no text allows us to believe that the British Regime recognized such a title.